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Sega Nu / ALLS

Sega's modern PC generations after the RingEdge: the Nu (2014) then the ALLS (Amusement Linkage Live System). Still Windows PC tied to ALL.Net, but now encrypted with BitLocker + TPM on top of the keychip — the most locked-down preservation of the whole Sega line. Project DIVA Future Tone, CHUNITHM, maimai…

A Sega Nu2 — the arcade PC that follows the RingEdge.
A Sega Nu2 — the arcade PC that follows the RingEdge. Photo uploaded by Black Squirrel to Sega Retro, a site under CC BY 4.0.

Identification

Field Value
Manufacturer Sega
Years Nu (2014) · ALLS (late 2010s→)
Base x86 PC (Windows)
Network ALL.Net / ALL.Net P-ras
Security keychip + BitLocker + TPM + Recovery Key

Architecture (PC)

These are proprietary Windows PCs (components close to the consumer PC of their era; exact specs vary by revision Nu 1 / Nu 1.1 / ALLS UX / HX / MX). What matters for preservation is not the power but the security:

  • Keychip (like RingEdge): gates the launch.
  • Disk encryption: Nu/ALLS are protected by BitLocker with TPM and a Recovery Key → storage content is encrypted at rest.

Security & preservation (the real topic)

  • Triple lock: keychip + BitLocker/TPM + ALL.Net network dependence. It's Sega's hardest system to preserve.
  • Community reverse-engineering: work (e.g. r1cebank's "How Sega Nu works" / keychip series) documents the keychip operation and boot chain to keep cabinets alive.
  • Network: many titles (rhythm, player cards) depend on ALL.Net → online content whose preservation relies on servers (official or community).

Notable games

  • Nu: Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Arcade Future Tone, Puyo Puyo (arcade versions)…
  • ALLS: CHUNITHM, maimai, O.N.G.E.K.I., WACCA (third parties on a Sega base)… the contemporary rhythm wave.

Faults & repair

PC hardware:

Symptom Likely cause Lead
Won't boot missing keychip / BitLocker (Recovery Key) / TPM Critical parts/keys; see preservation
Overheating / GPU crash GPU (fan/paste) Clean, re-paste
Dead storage SSD/HDD wear Image it (but encrypted → key needed)
Network down ALL.Net / NIC Network diagnosis
Controls / card I/O, card reader I/O / reader diagnosis

Modernisation & mods

The common ground for every JAMMA board

Video, power, control panel and upscalers depend on the cabinet rather than the board: everything is centralised in Modernising a cabinet. To run the board outside a cabinet (at home, on a display): supergun.

  • Hard disk ⚠️: a perishable medium — image the drive before it fails, then consider an SSD/CF replacement → PCB preservation hub.
  • Scan rate 📺: PC-based hardware — VGA output (31 kHz and above). ⚠️ A 15 kHz chassis is incompatible: you need a VGA/tri-sync monitor or a computer display. (Derived from the platform's PC nature documented above — not measured from MAME.)
  • FPGA / emulation: see the Emulation & FPGA section below.

Repair (technician)

  • Encrypted storage (BitLocker + TPM): the SSD/HDD is encrypted at rest; a dead drive cannot be imaged without the Recovery Key → preservation is blocked without the key (a major heritage limit).
  • Network dependency (ALL.Net): many titles require the online server → offline = unplayable.
  • x86 PC: standard PC diagnosis (PSU, RAM, caps, cooling, SSD).

→ Methods: PCB fault-finding · Recap · Traces & vias

Procedure — a dead board, step by step ✅

What this adds

The general method lives in PCB diagnosis. This is its application to this platform: the same order, but with the values actually expected here, so you do not have to go back and forth.

This platform is a PC

Most of what kills one of these is not on a board: the disk, the dongle, the BIOS settings or the OS. Go through those first — the procedure below still applies to the rails and the boot, but stripping a machine that simply will not boot off its disk wastes a day.

Tools: multimeter, oscilloscope (or frequency counter), current-limited bench supply, desoldering braid. → Tooling

If the board is still in a cabinet

A CRT holds its charge with the machine unplugged. → CRT safety

1. Inspection, power off. Corrosion, cut tracks, oxidised EPROM legs, leaking SMD capacitors, dubious earlier repairs.

2. The connector, before anything else. A large share of "dead boards" are a contact problem, not a fault. Clean the contacts with isopropyl alcohol and reseat — not with an abrasive eraser on a gold edge, which takes the plating off and brings the problem back worse. It costs two minutes and settles the question.

3. Power, measured on the board. Aim for +5.0 V measured as close as possible to where power reaches the board — not at the PSU output: the drop is in the loom, and that is exactly what makes a board boot on the bench and not in the cabinet. Where you probe depends on this board's connector — JAMMA edge, JVS loom or a proprietary harness — plenty of makers kept one long after JAMMA arrived — see Identification above. → Wiring Check −5 V and +12 V too if the sound stage uses them. Suspected short: bring it up current-limited and find the hot spot.

4. /RESET. It must release after power-up. Held low = the CPU never starts. A 1–2 Hz loop is not the reset circuit, it is the watchdog: the CPU is crashing at boot, so look at the bus, not at the reset.

5. Clocks. There is no measurement table for this platform — MAME's sources yield nothing usable for it. Any frequency quoted under Architecture on this page serves as a marker; otherwise compare against a working board rather than against a number: an invented value condemns healthy parts. → PCB diagnosis

6. Bus. Activity on the main CPU's address lines tells you whether it is running or frozen. Frozen with good clocks and good reset → work RAM, bus buffers, ROMs.

7. It boots but the picture or the sound is wrong — that is another job: see Common faults on this page, then signal tracing.

Emulation & FPGA

  • Emulation: Windows PC games → no MAME; preservation via disk image + keychip + BitLocker keys (RE protocols). No FPGA core.

Lineage

After the RingEdge / RingWide (2009) and the Lindbergh (2005). Represents the current state of Sega arcade (networked rhythm).

Photos / assets

(To add: Nu / ALLS board, keychip, TPM module, card reader.)

Sources & attribution

Image:

Review & corrections

How this space is used

Spotted a wrong value, an outdated procedure, a chip reference that does not match your board? Say so here, with what you observed (model, board revision, serial number, measurement). Every report is cross-checked against a source before anything changes — an unverifiable correction is published as “reported by …, not cross-checked” rather than silently applied.

Reading is open to everyone; posting requires signing in with Discord. Reports from the wiki's declared reviewers are handled first; anyone else's are read too, but go through a human before anything is changed.